Watch: Obama Reads Mean Tweets on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

Watch: Obama Reads Mean Tweets on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'

Since debuting “Celebrities Read Mean Tweets” in March 2012, the running gag has become one of Jimmy Kimmel’s most popular segments—the second edition has an astounding 44 million views on YouTube—but it’s never before had the gravitas of last night’s version, with President Barack Obama.

POTUS, who once slow-jammed the news with Jimmy Fallon, is no stranger to late-night, where he’s joked frequently with Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, David Letterman, and Jay Leno about the frustrations of leading the free world. “Mean Tweets” allows him to face his critics head-on, and he does so good-naturedly, endorsing one tweeter’s plan to drop him on a golf course halfway around the world.

As always, though, the tweets themselves are only half the battle, and the funniest bit involves a clever play on the “Thanks, Obama” trope. It has a whole different meaning coming out of the president’s mouth. Watch: